“to this day.” This is a theme that is important to the author. He often explains a present situation by events in the past. In this case, by the time the book of Joshua was written, the Gibeonites were servants who cut wood and drew water for the Tabernacle and Joshua 9 explains how that come to be. It can be important to know history. The phrase “to this day” occurs 15 times in Joshua.

“the place.” God had not chosen Jerusalem yet. Thus the text still speaks of “the place” that Yahweh would choose.

“Yahweh would choose.” The Hebrew reads, “he,” not Yahweh (“he would choose”), but in this English sentence it would seem that the “he” referred to Joshua, which it does not.